THINGS, THINGS and more THINGS!!

Things we forgot to tell you yesterday:

1.  Gas is 2.47 per litre.


2. You can buy gravel and  ash insurance for a rental car.

3.  National Parks don't charge entrance fees.

4.   The mountains are higher than I thought they would be 

Things we learned today about Iceland geography, customs and people:

1.You can't walk through the change room and into a geothermal pool with your bathing suit on.  First you must shower thoroughly with soap and water naked, then put on your suit,  and enter the pool.  You must leave your towel by the showers on a rack so you can be thoroughly dry before reentering the change room.  And they have 'guards' making sure you do this. 


2.  You may not take cameras or cell phones into a public pool.  Consequently, we only have a photo of the outside of the building.


3.  Most major grocery stores are closed by 6pm.  Doesn't help when you arrive at at 6:30 expecting to buy supper.  But, with firm resolve, we managed to find one open 24 hours in the downtown area.   Coleslaw, yogurt and potato chips rounded out the meal.


4.  The sun might have set for. Maximum of 20 minutes.  We know because one of us was awake each hour through the night.


5.  The weather is very pleasant.  Although we had showers yesterday, the temperature was 15C.  Today we awoke to brilliant sunshine.  Donning our capris and flip flops we were ready to roll.  Kept our fleece jackets close for the windy spells a few times during the day and saw a sign that it was 18C today.


6.  Steamboat Springs, Colorado has the tallest geysers, beating out Iceland and Yellowstone.


7.  Icelanders are very aggressive drivers.  When stopped at a red light, an orange light appears a couple of seconds before the green appears.  As soon as the orange light is on, Icelanders are on the move or tooting at those in front to hurry up.  Except for downtown, the main speed limits are 90kmph for paved roads and 80kmph for gravel.  No Icelander drives that slow!


8.  Iceland is very lush with greenery...trees, crops, gardens.  There are fresh water lakes, rivers and streams throughout the landscape.  There are mountains very close to the sea, much like Vancouver.  At one point we could have been viewing Ambleside, from downtown Vancouver.  We are here for spring flower time....purple/mauve lupines are growing wild on the hillsides and beside the road on drifts of hundreds.

Lupines on a caching trail

Things we did today-Wednesday:

Breakfast was a bustling affair at 8am.  The room is tiny, but folks were making room for others as the ranks swelled.  Warm homemade bread was ours to cut and then top with a selection of jams, peanut butter, Nutella, cheese, cucumber slices and butter.  A selection of cereals, coffee, juice and tea rounded out the buffet.


We set off for Dingvellir National Park also called Thingvellir National Park .  Since we needed lunch fixings, we stopped at the first grocery store we saw only to learn it didn't open until 10.  Set off across the highway to visit an Icelandic wool shop.  Beautiful sweaters, hats, toques, scarves all hand knit and jewellry made from volcanic stones.  No purchases were made, but did discover 2 caches in the area.  Back to the grocery store (which was now open) to pick up our picnic supplies  and on we went.


We had a peaceful visit in a beautiful setting in Dingvellir National Park.  The visitors centre overlooks the rift in the tectonic plates that joined Europe and America once met and are now separating at 2cm per year.  

Thingvellir National Park

Althing, an open-air assembly representing the whole of Iceland, was established in 930 and continued to meet until 1798. Over two weeks a year, the assembly set laws - seen as a covenant between free men - and settled disputes.  The area is known as The Parliament.  Trees, waterways, trails all seamlessly flow together to in park setting. The colours of spring were vibrant.  Scuba divers explore the turquoise water to 24m depths and temperatures of 2c.  The photos explain what words cannot.  Of course, there were caches to be found as well.  It was hard to say goodbye to this UNESCO sight.

Lunching with the vikings and ducks

Next we drove northeast to Geysir and  Gullfoss (Golden) Falls.  The levels in the falls make it most unusual.  The geysers provided a good show.  The  'main' geyser erupts about every 3-5 minutes much to the delight of the many patrons of the tour buses.  Smaller geysers put on shows as well.

Geysir

Gullfoss

Homeward bound, planning a dinner of roasted chicken and salads at the guesthouse came to an abrupt end learning that grocery stores for the most part close between 6 and 7pm.  We must be better prepared tomorrow! 


We had alerted the manager about the build up of ice in both the fridge and freezer compartments of the fridge.  We opened the unit door to view water all around the fridge as it was defrosting.  A quick call brought the manager with many towels to soak up the mess overnight...all is well now. Now we have people in the other rooms.


After catching up on emails, organizing for morning and chatting, we collapsed about midnight.